River Rat

The Christmas season usually means an embarrassment of sweet treats and other baked goods rolling out of the assembly line that is my momma’s kitchen.

With vacation just around the corner for me, I will likely be powerless to resist the temptation while visiting. There won’t be enough of the goodies for me to share with you — especially my favorite, the white chocolate-covered pretzels — but I will use this space to slip you a few newsy morsels I hope you find tasty.

The city of Louisville is once again making overtures toward landing an NBA team for the city.

On the surface, it sounds great. The city that has billed itself as the best college town in the country has periodically taken steps toward shedding that label and entering the major leagues outside of the first Saturday in May.

But facts are facts — Louisville is a college town, and Kentucky is a college sports state.

Congratulations to Kentucky football for earning an unprecedented fifth consecutive bowl bid. It seems like yesterday that UK was at a low point following the scholarship reductions after the ill-fated Hal Mumme administration.

Thanks to the stewardship of Rich Brooks through a very dark time, the Wildcat program has indeed come a long way. To his credit, Brooks’ hand-picked successor, Joker Phillips, has been very talkative about wanting to see his alma mater take the next big step and compete regularly for SEC championships.

It’s a big ’ol goofy world out there — with apologies to the great John Prine — with lots of things that just leave you shaking your head.

But there’s no sense sweating what you can’t control, so it’s best to just let that stuff roll off your back. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to learn how to do that in recent years, and life’s been a lot less stressful ever since.

That’s just one of the many things I’m thankful for during this season of reflection.

With the cross country and football season ending this past weekend for our local teams, I finally get a bit of a breather in the schedule. In the meantime, here are a few random things that have crossed my mind recently …

Make sure and tune in to PLG-TV 13 Thursday and Friday at 3:30, 4:30 or 5:30 p.m. (and at other times throughout those days) for the Boys’ Basketball Preview Show.

Last week we featured the Girls’ Basketball Preview Show, which you can watch online at www.plgtv.com.

I took over the sports department at The Kentucky Standard in June 2007. This year’s seniors were that year’s freshmen, so in some respects, I’ve sort of grown up with them as I’ve gotten to know them.

With 11 seniors on the current Bethlehem football squad, many of them four-year starters, I’ve seen many of their highs and lows. When I cover their games or go visit their practices to do interviews, or even just see them out in public in general, it’s usually a lot of fun and joking around.